EOG Resources gets $400 million from private equity group

EOG Resources will get a $400 million cash infusion from private equity group Carlyle to develop oil and gas assets in Oklahoma over the next four years.

The Houston oil producer’s joint venture with one of Carlyle’s energy investment arms comes as private equity firms pour billions into a resurgent U.S. oil industry, looking to scoop up oil properties they can flip for a profit.

In a statement late Monday, Carlyle said its working interests in the Ellis County, Oklahoma assets will “largely revert” to EOG Resources after the drilling program clears some “performance hurdles.”

The firm’s energy mezzanine funds have some $4 billion in assets – ammunition for growth and refinancing capital for energy companies – that they manage from New York and Houston.

“Private equity has come back even stronger than before,” said Buddy Clark, a partner at Dallas law firm Haynes & Boone. In the oil patch, “the new business model, for better or worse, is private equity backing a management team looking for an acquisition.”